Lead is now 272* with 5 wickets remaining. I would say we are ahead at this stage but still depends on how Mushfiq and Nasir bat in the morning. Anything above 350+ will put a lot of pressure on the batting order on a deteriorating pitch

Lead is now 272* with 5 wickets remaining. I would say we are ahead at this stage but still depends on how Mushfiq and Nasir bat in the morning. Anything above 350+ will put a lot of pressure on the batting order on a deteriorating pitch

If Bangladesh lost 5/0 they'd still be slim favourites IMO. Well ahead for mine.

ST: We get a lot of feedback from Bangladesh. The fans there are extremely passionate about cricket and one of them writes in to us today, his name is Nizam. He seems quite concerned about the state of the Bangladesh cricket team, so far as Test cricket is concerned.

Bangladesh just got beaten by 335 runs against Zimbabwe. Several commentators, including yourself, have been critical of Bangladesh's performances in Test cricket while admitting they do all right at home and in ODIs. Why is it that they are yet to develop into a decent Test team, having been on the Test circuit for 13 years now?

GB: You are right to be worried, because they are poor. In my opinion, the ICC have wasted far too much money on Bangladesh. They've got far more money than any other country, loads more. For the money given to Bangladesh, the return has to be really poor. The pitches they play on in Bangladesh are slow, low, spinning surfaces. There are very few world Test match venues that are like that. Alter the pitches, fly in different soil, get some Australian soil or something where it bounces. That'll teach your batsmen to play fast bowling, teach them how to play back.

Their batting technique is not good enough. It's okay when they are in comfortable conditions like slow, turning, low pitches. Quicks can't bounce them, can't force them on the back foot, can't move it around. Oh they are all right, we can all play in those conditions. It's a piece of cake. But you've got to learn, if you are a great player, look at Tendulkar or his career, he's played on all sorts. He scored a marvellous hundred at Old Trafford once with the ball moving around when he was still very young. I can remember it now. He's made hundreds on flat pitches, on turning pitches, against Shane Warne turning it square. That's the true nature of a great player.

Your batsmen just aren't good enough. And actually, it doesn't encourage fast bowling. Why would you want to bowl fast on a slow pitch where it bounces about knee-cap high? I just think the whole administration and coaching structure has not been good enough. They've had easy money, lots of easy money from the ICC. The coaching should be better, or the batsmen aren't listening. Maybe there's too much of a comfort zone, too easy. When I see people not improving, it's either that the coaches are telling them the right things and they're not listening or they're not putting it into practice, they're not smart enough, they don't have a cricket brain. They might be academically good but they don't have a cricket nous. Or you've got poor coaching.

Same with your administrations - they've never changed the structure of the pitches at all, it's too much easy money. As soon as the ICC stop giving them money, maybe they'll do something about it. Maybe they need a jolt, a sharp jolt. And, the ICC, if the gifts they give to Bangladesh were relative to the win-and-loss performances of the national team, that will be a real shock wake-up, wouldn't it? For all the players and the administrators. Then we might get some serious improvement from a country that loves cricket. Lovely passionate people, and we'd like to embrace Bangladesh as a proper Test-match nation, a quality-playing nation, because they've got millions of people who actually adore the game. And they're going nowhere.

While I agree with some of the stuffs pointed out by Boycott but "going nowhere" is a far stretched out opinion.

I'd say BD are in the best position to win the game from here, even if they can only get a 300 odd lead. Zimbabwe's top order is fragile at best. Unless Taylor can come out play a blinder like the first test. On a 4/5 day wicket which will start suiting BD's spinners and with the form Robiul is in, BD should go on to win from here.

a good positive start from Zimbabwe, I still think they are a decent chance of winning, especially with Taylor and Waller to come. But Shakib is always dangerous on turning pitches, and Robiul isn't going away. We haven't seen a full innings of decent batting from either side yet, they're always throwing their wickets away, so it will be interesting to see how this all goes...

Originally Posted by Dawood Ahmad

Hamish, no body knows even name of him
But Ponting, there's great fame of him

So long as the weather forecast is OK for tomorrow, Bangladesh will be pretty happy with four wickets I reckon - especially as one of them was Taylor. Their three quicks (?) seem a bit of a luxury, although two wickets for Zia was a bit of a bonus.